The Rangers were a tired team tonight. I’m not using that as an excuse (do winning teams need excuses?), but you could tell this was a team that has played more games than any other team in the league, and really could use a break. That’s pretty much the way I explain the 2nd period, in which the Rangers looked to revert back to Tom Renneys B.S. defensive system instead of playing the up tempo aggressive system that has really looked quite superb for the previous 3-5 games. Thankfully the Rangers got a 2nd wind in the 3rd to take over the game and seal the deal. They weren’t great, but they definitely were the better team, they definitely deserved the 2 points, and Henrik definitely deserved another shutout.
There were positives abound, as the Rangers PP looked quite good despite not scoring, and the Rangers 3rd line looked superb accounting for all the offense, and creating countless other chances. It’s quite interesting that the 2 players playing the worst (arguably) are the 2 highest paid Rangers in Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, whereas the kids of Zherdev, Dubinsky, Korpedo, Prucha, Dawes, and Callahan all look superb.
Speaking of superb, the defense was again quite good. With the exception of 2 terrible early turnovers by Redden, the Rangers played a very strong positional game, with none of the defenseman looking out of position, or scared of joining the offense.
Again, dare I say it, is this team turning the corne…..errr, nevermind.
Rangers get a day off, they are going to need it. Rest, Recharge, and get right back out there. That’s all for me for today! I’ll have a small announcement during the all star break to make, but other than that, there isn’t much else to say.
This is the 4th consecutive game the Rangers have improved their play. Even in a down 3rd period they looked better than they have much of this season. And yet somehow the results aren’t there. I’m not sure how the Rangers seem to defy the law of averages so much, but eventually it will catch up with them. Just as early in the season they got away with horrible play and managed to win, before eventually catching up with them bringing them from 1st in the Conference to 6th in a matter of weeks, it won’t take long for them to climb back up the standings if they continue to play this way. The bad luck will right itself, because a team doing this many thing right will eventually get those breaks.
There really isn’t much else to say, the lineup was perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing, the attack play Renney set forth is exactly how I think this team should be run, and the personnel has elevated their games.
No goats, no regrets, no complaints. Sometimes, you just get beat.
I’ll hand it to Ryan Miller, the guy played a great game. He was in the zone and made some superb saves with the Rangers on the doorstep all night long. Zherdev had chances, Dubinsky had chances, every line had some solid chances with somehow only 1 finding its way to the back of the net. These games happen, you tip your hat and move on.
The onus is now on Renney to keep everything the same and do his usual positive reinforcement speech which he certainly is great at doing.
“Maybe I’ve got to be more vocal and try to get a call or two. It seems to work for other teams,” the coach said. “It’s not an easy game to officiate, but it’s disconcerting when others seem to be able to do that.”
-Tom Renney
To think, it only took him 409 games behind the bench as a head coach to figure this out. It’ll probably be another 400-500 games before he realizes that accountability is a good thing as well.
Look, I’m not going to put this one on Renney, in fact I think this might have been one of his better coached games of the season, but when a team is being anally raped by the referees, it’s probably a good time to say a word or two to them.
Tonight we played an absolutely superb game. Make no mistake about it, the Rangers deserved to win this one. They were better in almost every facet of the game. I say almost because there was 1 blindingly obvious guy who didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. That would be Henrik Lundqvist who had about as bad a game as I have ever seen from him. He had his expected idiotic stick handling turnover that leads to a goal (to be fair, he’s really cut those down this season), and he had a goal that was off of a horrendous rebound that he let up. 2 plays, 2 goals, and removing the empty netter, that would be the difference in the game. But that wasn’t the only problem here, the other glaringly obvious problem were the referees laughable job of handing the game to the Habs. I thought the calls on the Rangers were all fair (though Voros’ was….interesting), but the amount of crap they let the Habs get away with was unbelievable. Dimitri Kalinin tripped right in front of the ref, stick between his leg, everyone could see it…no call. Paul Mara, slashed once, he loses his glove in pain, then gets slashed AGAIN…no call. Scott Gomez, tripped not once, but twice on one shift…no call. Freddy Sjostrom, picked during the PP which led directly to Markov getting a full, uncontested slapper from the high slot…no call. And that is just what I could remember off the top of my head! For Tom Renney to not say a single thing about that is indefensible. You want to get your team the best chance to win? You need to call out the refs on stuff like that. You have a responsibility to your team, to your club, to your fans to get in the refs face when they are giving the screw job to you. Show some friggin emotion, get tossed out of the game, do anything to let your guys know that you have their back…trust me, they will gladly kill that penalty for you coach, and if anything it will give them something to rally around. Instead Tom terrific chews his gum and does his best impersonation of a parent at their child’s kindergarten production of the HMS Pinafore. Bored and disinterested.
Before we head out to the positives (and there were some believe it or not), let’s talk about one last negative. Aaron Voros…again, continues to hold the Dubinsky-Zherdev line back. What the hell does this guy have on Renney to be in the lineup? He gets in the way of his linemates, he plays the boards worse than Prucha or Dawes on their worst day, he gets knocked over more times than Matt Cullen did, and he gets his ass kicked like Godard did against Orr. He brings NOTHING to this team. He is a big waste of a roster space. Lauri Korpikoski deserves to play, he looked great out there, he does things, he plays with energy, he hits, he gets in passing lanes, he kills penalties. He should be in there coach, only an effing idiot doesn’t see that.
Ok, now that I got that off my chest, let’s talk about the positives. The Rangers got superb production from their entire lineup sans Henrik and Voros. Prucha, Dawes, everyone, they all played great games. I can’t think of a single player I wasnt happy with. Even Scott Gomez, who did not have a great game, didn’t play bad enough for me to want to murder him…though I dont understand why he shoots pucks into the chest of the goalie on odd man rushes…he has passing lanes, he has options, instead he shoots the puck from the blueline and the goalie freezes the play…seems like a rally killer to me. Anyway, the lineup looks like they are finally solidifying. Callahan keeps scoring, Dawes keeps producing, even Drury is finally starting to heat up a bit. Most importantly the Rangers finally……FINALLY started to play the way I envisioned them playing from the beginning of the season. 2, 3, sometimes 4 men pressuring the puck before the opposition hits the red line. All 5 men back to defend as a group. Transition not being stifled by always playing it safe, instead the defense were free to get involved knowing a forward would be there to back them up. How were the 3 goals scored? Redden in the crease on the first one off a rush. Kalinin driving the net, pulling the defenseman with him opening up Callahan for the 1-timer. And Michal Rozsival sneaking in far side for a tap in goal. Those are the kinds of plays a Tom Renney club would never have the balls to do. Today they actually started to do that. Playing off the rush, creating offensively, getting 3 men deep, getting pucks to the net with traffic in front OFF THE RUSH, rather than off a cycle. They played a damn near perfect game….except for their goalie, and the refs.
I can only pray Renney doesnt crawl back into the defensive trap he always clings to when the score gets out of hand, and realizes that this team played more than well enough to win. But with Renneys track record…
You guys know I’m probably the first person to say “give the points back” when the Rangers play a game where they didn’t deserve to win, however tonight I won’t be saying that. We did deserve to win tonight, but I still wasn’t very happy with the quality of play from the Rangers, particularly in the first 2 periods.
In the first 2 periods, the Penguins had at least 3 point blank chances in which Henrik made superb saves (Crosby at the door step, Malkin on a breakaway, and someone else he got with a pokecheck). On top of that the Pens hit 3, possibly 4 goal posts (albeit we hit 2 ourselves). So the score probably should have been a 1 goal game either way, probably favoring the Pens after 2. However the Rangers clearly dominated play in the 3rd, shutting the door defensively, and not making Henrik have to make any insane saves. They also scored 2 goals, one off of a pretty pass by Petr “How the hell was I benched for most of this season?!” Prucha, and the other on an empty netter by Gomez. That 3rd period is what tipped the scales from the “give the points back” state of mind I was in going into the 3rd, to the “Eh” state of mind I was in after the 3rd.
Look, don’t get me wrong, I will take the points, and at this juncture a win, is a win, is a win, but there are MILES to go before I come even close to thinking this team has turned the corner (as the NYRangerscast guys love to jinx).
Two other things on this game that really stood out. The first being just how important specialty teams really are. The Rangers got 2 power play goals, and technically 1 short handed goal. For 95% of the NHL teams out there specialty teams is a difference maker, for the New York Rangers, specialty teams is how we win or lose. It’s as simple as that. When you play Tom Renneys bull shit dog leash style of hockey where you get ZERO chances in terms of offense during even strength play, you absolutely must score on the power play, and on the penalty kill in order to stand a chance. If the Rangers are lucky, they will score 1, maybe 2 goals in a game at even strength (and I can’t stress lucky enough), in order to win games in which Henrik isn’t perfect, they need a PPG or 2 to get those wins. They haven’t done it the entire season, but tonight proves they have the guns to get it done.
The final thing I want to discuss are statistics. I generally live and die by stats. I look at numbers with regards to points, standings, power play percentages, and other stats on a daily basis. I look at numbers, and I try to see patterns. Stats are the holy grail of sports to me. You can learn so much about expectations, projections, etc from stats. With all of that said, the stats from tonights game are DEAD WRONG. Scott Gomez got something like 1 goal, and 2 assists tonight. But aside from his faceoff prowess, and an empty netter any of us could have scored, Gomez was an absolute train wreck. He had so many bone headed plays tonight that I literally jumped out of my chair and started cursing at the top of my lungs at the TV when he made yet another turnover. The guy just isn’t doing ANYTHING worth writing home about, especially tonight. He turned the puck over, he passed into guys skates, he trapped his teammates for odd man rushes against, he killed rushes with terrible decision making. In short, he was absolute dog shit. Don’t believe the stats tonight, Scott Gomez deserved to be booed off the ice with his performance.
Ok, I lied, I did have 1 more thing I wanted to mention, and I’ll keep this one short. Aaron Voros is not an NHL player. I’m wondering if he is even an AHL player. How on Earth this schlub is in over Lauri Korpikoski I will never know. Maybe if Lauri was a Ranger fan when growing up he would still be in the lineup…..because of that’s not it, I just don’t get it.
The Rangers are no longer an NHL team. I’m not sure if everyone has heard yet, but they’ve officially been changed to a punchline.
A rabbi, a priest and a minister walk into a bar. The New York Rangers.
Are you laughing? Because I sure am. I mean, at this point, there is nothing left but the comedy. We had yet again another short handed goal against. We had yet another game where our power play simply could not gain the offensive zone, leave alone actually get pucks to the net and scoring chances. We had yet another game where Petr Prucha proved that his sitting out most of this season has been an absolute travesty of epic proportions (expect him to sit the next game to give Fritsche a look). And we also had a game with the first ever NHL slap fight. Paging Mr. Queermo?
I mean, what the hell was that all about? I’m going to slap you Staal, I’m going slap slap happy, slappity slappity slap . I have been watching hockey for my share of years, but I have never seen anything even remotely like that. I mean for Christs sake Semin was even wearing a pink shirt to boot! I mean, I give the guy credit for fighting a guy much bigger than him, but turtle, or throw punches, don’t slap the guy! You’re on national television! You know this video is going to follow you around for the rest of your career, like the sight of Mike Modano being dropped out of the ambulance when he was on the stretcher, or when Patrick Stefan missed the open net with the Stars only to have the Oilers tie the game up with a few seconds to go.
Getting back to the Rangers it’s hard to even make posts on this site anymore. Everyday it’s the same thing. Tom Renney’s bullshit system of sitting back and never getting any scoring chances (22 shots on goal, maybe 3 legit scoring chances), and another day of overpaid vets being vastly outplayed by younger, hungrier kids (on both teams). Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are flat out embarrassing the Rangers crest with their efforts. Drury doesn’t even bother playing anymore, he just thinks he is at public skates with his wife or something. He doesn’t win faceoffs anymore, our PK is starting to fall off, he is on the ice for seemingly every single goal against, he doesn’t get shots, he doesn’t set up his teammates. I mean, how on earth is it even possible that Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan are outplaying their centermen Chris Drury? Does that even seem like a possibility, leave alone a fact!?
Right now this power play is just epically slaughtering this team. It’s bad enough they are absolutely incapable of scoring a goal when up a man, but this season they have gone from being unable to score to giving away goals as well. They can’t score when up a man, they can’t score at even strength, they just can’t seem to put pucks in the net.
And don’t give me that bull that the Rangers just don’t have enough offensive firepower to score goals, because that’s the same excuse I’ve been hearing on a Tom Renney coached team for over 3 years now. Its just amazing though isnt it? Its always the players fault that this team can not score goals.
3 years ago, Jagr goes bonkers, Prucha explodes out of nowhere, we still only finish at 14th (3.05G/G) in the NHL in offense. Clearly we dont have the players…
We add a 40 goal scorer from the previous year in Shanahan to help fix the problem.
So 2 years ago we had more or less the same team, added Shanahan, and our offense dropped from 14th in the NHL to 18th in the NHL (2.84G/G). Damn! I guess we still have too many round holes and square pegs! How about we have more or less the same team, subtract Nylander and add Chris Drury (a 37 goal scorer the year before) and Scott Gomez (a steady 60-75 point getter) and im sure that will bring in more offense right?
We drop from 18th in the NHL in offense to 25th (2.5 G/G).
Ok, it must all be Jagr and the Czech connections fault, you know because we have all these square pegs and round holes, so lets dismantle that team, get rid of Jagr, Shanahan, Straka, Avery, etc, and try a more or less completely different group of players. Lets put together a team that Tom Renney has more or less either drafted, or has been here since before they arrived (IE, he must have had some hand in picking what players he wants, but will have to deal with whatever players are there before he gets here)
So this year we go from 25th in the NHL to 26th in the NHL (2.5 G/G)
Is it possible…just possible, that we DO have the horses to be score goals?
Is it possible, just possible, that this team as constructed should be a viable contender for the cup?
I mean, clearly adding more talented players, or adding players that Tom Renney has a direct impact in signing doesnt help our cause offensively, so maybe, just maybe, there is another reason why this team can’t score goals.
I dunno, you tell me, because at this point, I am almost tired of watching this sad pathetic excuse for a hockey team, and that starts with the management and works its way all the way down the roster sans maybe 5 or 6 players.
Rangers are in a free fall of poor play, regardless of the outcome. They are playing worse and worse as the season goes on. Someone needs to step up. Who will it be in 2009? We’ll find out starting against the Caps. BTW, Sorry about not posting an Isles review, by the time I got some free time to post it, the game was already out of everyones mind, so I decided to skip it.
. I have been watching hockey for my share of years, but I have never seen anything even remotely like that. I mean for Christs sake Semin was even wearing a pink shirt to boot! I mean, I give the guy credit for fighting a guy much bigger than him, but turtle, or throw punches, don’t slap the guy! You’re on national television! You know this video is going to follow you around for the rest of your career, like the sight of Mike Modano being dropped out of the ambulance when he was on the stretcher, or when Patrick Stefan missed the open net with the Stars only to have the Oilers tie the game up with a few seconds to go.